


Memorial

by JosieRuby1



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 17:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16246280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JosieRuby1/pseuds/JosieRuby1
Summary: Set during/after The Mortal Coil. A memorial service for Kenspeckle Grouse.





	Memorial

**Author's Note:**

> Fictober day 7: No worries, we still have time

The pair had already been running late, and Valkyrie had already been tetchy about the fact that they were running late. She had made many comments about the fact that Skulduggery had been extremely unorganised and that it shouldn’t be difficult to choose because three tailored suits that didn’t look at all different. Skulduggery had told her that he was going to tell Ghastly that she had said that and Valkyrie rolled her eyes and told him to drive faster. The words had been right for the jokes and whining they were both doing, but the tone was lost. They both knew how important it was for them to get to the sanctuary today.

This wasn’t just some meeting that they were trying to get out of. This wasn’t some political talk they didn’t want to be at. This was a memorial service for Doctor Kenspeckle Grouse. Valkyrie was tapping nervously at the side of the car’s door, feeling steadily more worried about time. They had about half an hour until the service and they were about twenty minutes away, but she still as though they weren’t going to make it. As though they were going to let Kenspeckle down after everything he had done for them.

The engine huffed and whined. Valkyrie stared at the bonnet through the front window, silently warning it not to dare continue making those noises. And to the Bentley’s credit, it did stop with the noises. Instead, the engine cut out completely. They came to a sudden stop, around ten minutes away from Roarhaven. Valkyrie breathed heavily through annoyance and anxiety as Skulduggery jumped out and opened the bonnet.

She left him to it for a few minutes before getting out and joining him. She knew nothing about cars, except that Skulduggery had outlandish taste in them. Skulduggery seemed to have an idea what he was doing with his head stuck down, and his hands moving quickly. He stopped after another couple of minutes and looked at her.

“We need a mechanic.” He commented.

It was all Valkyrie could do not to scream at this.

“No worries, Valkyrie,” Skulduggery said, as he pulled his phone out a pocket and begun dialling. “We still have time.”

But not much of it, Valkyrie thought. She considered leaving Skulduggery there with his stupid car and shadow walking to the Sanctuary. She had been practising the shadow walking but she still wasn’t confident with it, she wasn’t 100% sure that when she left the shadows she would be where she wanted to be. So she waited. Impatiently.

She kicked the wheel of the Bentley, making sure the car knew it was its fault that she was so stressed and worked out. Skulduggery turned to her and she knew that had he had a face he would’ve been glaring at her. She stepped away from the car and plonked herself down on the floor, huffing.

A few moments later Skulduggery was off the phone. There were in the middle of nowhere but thankfully, one of the few mechanics that Skulduggery trusted was also in the middle of nowhere. The mechanic was a sorcerer who tended to fix the cars of sorcerers and therefore lived on the outskirts of Roarhaven. They didn’t have to wait much longer for the mechanic to arrive.

Skulduggery threw the mechanic the keys without a word and gestured for Valkyrie to join him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and a moment later they were in the air. Normally she enjoyed the feeling of flying, of the world being below her but she was too stressed about what today was to enjoy the motion.

*

“You’re very almost late,” Ghastly said when they arrived. He was stood at the door of the pub, showing people in.

“And Valkyrie insulted your tailoring.” Skulduggery said, before slipping through and leaving Valkyrie to deal with the backlash of that.

Ghastly looked at her, a look that told her that in any other circumstances he would be extremely disappointed but that he was too tired and sad right now to be.

Valkyrie sighed, “I did not. I insulted Skulduggery’s inability to pick a suit.” She said and slipped through herself.

The pub was fairly busy. There were a lot of people there. The sanctuary had felt a great loss. While, in name, this service was for Kenspeckle, it was also a time for the sorcerers here to remember everything they had lost other the last few weeks. Valkyrie recognised a lot of the people, and weaved through, shaking hands, accepting hugs, and smiling sadly. It was intense. It was too intense. She found Skulduggery sat in one of the pub’s booths on his own, a glass of coke in front of him.

“You can’t drink,” she commented as she slipped into the seat opposite him.

He looked up at her. “I knew you’d want to hide from the crowds as well.”

“I’m not usually bothered by crowds. I like people, I’ve never had an issue with busy places.” Valkyrie commented. She looked out amongst the people. “But… I don’t like funerals. I know this isn’t a funeral but it’s the same feeling as one. I don’t-”

Skulduggery nodded. “No one likes these things,” He told her. “But everyone feels them necessary. Everyone wants everyone else to know that they haven’t just forgotten the person who’s been lost. They want to try and celebrate the life while accepting their loss.”

“I was so desperate to get here but now that I’m here I can’t wait to leave. I’m not going to, it would be disrespectful but it’s like there’s this blanket of tension over everyone here.” Valkyrie sighed, sipping her coke. “Do you think Kenspeckle would’ve liked this?”

Skulduggery laughed, “I don’t think he would’ve known what to do with it. He helped a lot of people, he touched a lot of hearts, but he’d be overwhelmed to see this many people turn out just for him.”

Valkyrie didn’t have time to ask anything else because Ravel was hitting a fork against a glass in order to get everyone’s attention. Slowly the room silenced and everyone turned to look at bar where Ravel stood.

“No one would want this to be amongst the first jobs they had as Grand Mage but here we are.” Ravel begun, solemnly.

*

The speeches went on for some time. They started with Ravel and continued with anyone who wanted to give one. Some of them were long and meaningful, some were short anecdotes about Kenspeckle, some were just the raising of glasses to him. The people in the pub were drinking as the speeches went on while Valkyrie stayed in their booth, nursing her coke. Skulduggery gave a speech that was a mixture of all the above, speaking of Kenspeckle’s importance to everyone, of the number of times Kenspeckle had scolded him and the number of times he had helped him, and then raising a glass he couldn’t drink from.

Once the speeches were over, the service erupted in the only way an Irish wake could. Loud and not exactly sober singing rung around the pub, folk songs, traditional songs, memorial songs, and to Valkyrie’s surprise modern pop songs she would not have expected these sorcerers to know. Skulduggery was joining in now, singing with the rest of them.

She tried to smile at everything she was seeing but when she tried she realised she was crying. Kenspeckle had been more than a doctor to her, a friend, a confident, an adult figure who knew she was a child but never patronised her. She had never allowed herself to grieve. She had told herself that they would grieve when they had fixed things and while the crisis was over, she knew that some things just could not be fixed. She would never be able to bring back Kenspeckle. She would never have Tanith beside her as her best friend again. The sanctuary would move on but some things had changed irrevocably


End file.
